Ball-bat



(No Model.)

,E- KINST.

' BALL BAT.

. Patented June 1'7, 1890.

- being'straight and converging from the outer PATENT, OFFIC EMILE KINST, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BALL- BAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 430,388, dated June 17, 1890.

Application filed April 22, 1890. Serial No. 348,981. .(No model.)

To all whom, it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, EMILE KINST, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ball-Bats, which are fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof.

The drawing shows my improved ball-bat in side elevation, thus showing all its essential and novel features. The front orrear view of this bat shown in a drawing would show nothing which differed in outline from an ordinary ball-bat, the sides of this my bat or top end to the handlein just the same way as the sides of the present well-known form of ball-bat converge. I mean more particularly those bats known as base-ball bats.

The object of my invention is to provide a ball-bat which shall produce a rotary or spinning motion of the ball in its flight 'to a higher degree than is possible with any present known form of ball-bat, and thus to make it more difficult to catch the ball, or, if caught, to hold it, and thus furtherto modify the conditions of the game, as will presently be'shown; and to attain said endsI construct my new ball-bat in substantially the following manner, namely:

I construct a ball-batif, for instance, it is to be used in playing 'base-ballin every essential feature just like the present wellknown form of bat,and then bybendingchange its permanent forminto that substantially as shown in the drawing, so that thelongitudinal axis of the bat shall'lie in a plane from the points 0 to 1 with aireceding curve, (the face toward the reference-figure of the drawing being the front or face of the bat,) which gradually reverses from the point 1, and at the points 2, 3, and 4 has its radial central point or points on the face side of the bat in form and relative proportions, substantially as shown.

The smaller part of the bat from the point marked 0 is the handle, and from said point up to the upper end of the bat, constituting about or a little more than one-third of the entire length-of the bat, is the striking part.

In use the following results are obtained with my bat, namely: When a ball is struck with that part of the bat comprised between the points 0 and 1, the ball will receive, in addition tothe flight produced by the blow, a rotary motion, more or less'violent in proportion as it happens to hit the bat near the point 1 or 0. This motion will of course be in the same direction as if the ball had been rolled on the face of the bat from the point 0 toward the upper end of the bat, and on account of the manner in which bats are usually held at the moment they hit the balla little back of or pointing backward from the striker-this said rotation will be given to the ball at the point 2 and beyond it, but with decreasing force-,until near or at the point 3, where for a short distance on either side of it there will be a neutral pointthat is, its shape will not, on account of the form and position already explained, tend to give'the ball any more-of a rotary motion than a straight bat would do. Beyond said neutral space toward the point 4 and on either side of it the ball receives arotary or spinning motion contrary to that given from or between the points 0 and 3. In addition to the said special results, there are several others attained by the use of my new batas, for instance, when the ball strikes the bat between the points 0 and 3 itwill not fly straight from the batthat is, in a line normal or vertical to the axial line of the handie of the batbut it will rise upward, and when the ball is caught in flying from such a blow it will be very difficult to retain it in the hand on account of the said rotary or spinhing motion imparted to it. If the balliis struck with theupper end of the bat, its tendency will be to seek the ground directlyand to roll from the striker and to stay on or near the ground. to the peculiar form of my bat, the game becomes more difficult to play, and therefore much more interesting and exciting, because the innings will not be so easily attained, and consequently the time of the game will also be shortened, and on account of ,the said spinnin g motion given to the ball b y my bat it will also be sent farther across the field.

WVith these said results, owing \Vhilc the cross-section ofmy ball-bat may be circular like arty other bat, it may also be varied; seas to be more or less Oval-round at 2. Ahall-bzttwhereiu the longitudinal axis of the striking part is bent into a series of curves from the point 0 through the points 1 2 3 4, substantially as specified; I

' EMILE KINST.

Witnesses:

WM. ZIMMERMAN, I. H. PEDRICK. 

